"quality or intensity of color," 1889, from Latinized form of Greek khroma "surface of the body, skin, color of the skin," also used generically for "color" and, in plural, "ornaments, embellishments," related to khros "surface of the body, skin," khrozein "to touch the surface of the body, to tinge, to color;" the root is explained as being somehow from PIE *ghreu- "to rub, grind" (see grit (n.)).